Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961.
From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlborough College, and Exeter College, Oxford. He achieved high academic honours but was not interested in a university career. He was ordained priest in 1913, and taught at Marlborough for three years; in 1914, aged 27, he was appointed headmaster of Repton School where he served for 18 years. In 1932, having left Repton, he was made Bishop of Chester. In 1939 he accepted the post of Bishop of London, the third most senior post in the Church of England. His term of office began shortly after the start of the Second World War, and his organising skills were required to keep the diocese functioning despite the devastation of the London Blitz.
In 1944 the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, died suddenly, and Fisher was chosen to succeed him. He served from 1945 to 1961. One of the main themes of his time in office was church unity. He worked continually to build bridges to other Christian churches, and in 1960 became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to meet a Pope since the English Reformation, more than four centuries earlier. He overhauled the administration of the Church of England, strengthened international ties with other Anglican churches, and spoke out on a range of topical issues, from divorce to homosexuality, and the Suez Crisis to nuclear disarmament.
Theologically, Fisher was nearer the Evangelical wing of the Church than the Anglo-Catholic, but strongly believed that neither had a monopoly of religious truth. His predecessor and his successor at Canterbury – Temple and Michael Ramsey – were known for scholarly spirituality; Fisher was distinguished by a simple faith combined with outstanding organisational flair. In 1961 he retired from Canterbury and for the first time in his life became a parish priest, serving as honorary curate of a country parish in Dorset. He died in 1972, aged 85.
Life and career
Early years
Geoffrey Francis Fisher was born on 5 May 1887 at the rectory, Higham on the Hill, Leicestershire, youngest of the ten children of the Rev Henry Fisher and his wife Katherine, née Richmond. A Fisher had served as rector of Higham since 1772: Henry Fisher's father and grandfather had preceded him; his eldest son, Legh, later held the post. After a short time in the Higham village school Fisher was sent to Lindley Lodge, a local preparatory school and in September 1901, having gained a scholarship, he entered Marlborough College, a public school in Wiltshire. He was greatly influenced by the headmaster, Frank Fletcher, an inspiring teacher, under whose guidance he did well both academically and in sport.From Marlborough, Fisher won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, going up in October 1906. The college had a strong Anglican tradition with both the low church evangelical and high church Anglo-Catholic wings represented. Fisher, though temperamentally inclined to the former, felt that both had much to offer. He disapproved of those in either camp who believed they had a monopoly of the truth. He rowed and played rugby for the college and distinguished himself academically, leaving with a triple first.
After completing his studies Fisher declined two offers of lecturerships in theology from Oxford colleges. Although intellectually able he was not of an academic turn of mind. In the words of his biographer David Hein, "scholars must be intellectually imaginative and also persistently dissatisfied, even sceptical, in a way that Fisher never was". He said that he did not want "to go on asking questions to which there is no answer". He accepted an invitation from Fletcher to return to Marlborough as a member of the teaching staff, remaining there for three years, during which time he went to Wells Theological College during the long summer vacation in 1911, and was ordained deacon in 1912, and priest in 1913.
Repton
In 1914 William Temple, the headmaster of Repton School, was appointed rector of the prominent parish of St James's, Piccadilly in London. He then encouraged Fisher to apply for the resulting vacancy at Repton, as did Fletcher. Fisher's application was successful and he took up the headmastership in June 1914, at the age of 27.Within two months of his appointment Fisher was confronted by problems arising from the outbreak of the First World War. Six of his teaching staff volunteered for the armed forces, as did sixty of the senior boys. As well as coping with a reduced staff and apprehension and restlessness among the pupils, Fisher had to deal with the mixed legacy he had inherited from his predecessor. Although Temple was described as "religiously inspiring and intellectually stimulating", he was no disciplinarian or organiser. Fisher was characterised by The Times as combining "generous humanity and a completely unaffected manner with a passion for order and efficiency".
Fisher was in charge of Repton for 18 years, during which he improved the facilities, instilled firm discipline and modernised the curriculum. His biographer Alan Webster writes:
Among Fisher's pupils at Repton were Stuart Hampshire and Roald Dahl, both of whom complained that his personally administered beatings had been cruel. Other pupils admired "his combination of extreme competence, lack of self-concern, and genial humour".
While at Repton, Fisher met Rosamond Chevallier Forman, who was the daughter of a former master at Repton and a granddaughter of S. A. Pears, a famous headmaster of the school. They were married on 12 April 1917; they had six children, all sons. Webster writes that the marriage was lifelong and mutually supportive. By the early 1930s Fisher felt that it was time to move on from Repton, and was hoping for an appointment as a parish priest, preferably in a rural parish.
Bishop of Chester
Temple had watched his successor's progress at Repton, and once again intervened to further Fisher's career. Temple, by now Archbishop of York, commended Fisher to Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lang was impressed enough to put Fisher's name on the short list when the see of Chester became vacant on the retirement of Luke Paget. At the time, bishops were appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister. Ramsay MacDonald recommended Fisher to George V; the appointment was approved, and on 21 September 1932 Temple consecrated Fisher bishop in York Minster, and the following week Fisher was enthroned as Bishop of Chester at Chester Cathedral.It was unusual for a bishop to be appointed without having any experience as a parish priest, and Fisher had to overcome reservations about him on that score from some of the clergy in his diocese. Webster writes that Fisher and his wife proved to be exceptionally hard-working, but the lack of previous pastoral experience showed:
Fisher became an advocate for rationalisation in many aspects of church life. He pointed out the discrepancies in the remuneration of the clergy, with some of them extremely poorly paid; he drew attention to the lack of a consistent appointment system; he intervened to save the Church Training College in Chester from threatened closure; strengthened the financial administration of the diocese; and campaigned for financial support of church schools, overseas missions and the widows of clergy. He was at the forefront of the Industrial Christian Fellowship Mission, and his commitment often took him to the slums of Birkenhead. In Webster's summary, "He was a confident bishop, never doubting the natural and pastoral role of the established church or experiencing the post-1900 questionings in philosophy and theology. He had no hesitations over his own faith".
Bishop of London
In 1939, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the long-serving Bishop of London, retired at the age of 81. During his 38-year tenure, the diocese was riven by factions and came close to disintegrating. It was clear that Winnington-Ingram's successor must be a man with a strong hand; Fisher was seen as one such, and Lang favoured his appointment. But although Fisher's record as an organiser and disciplinarian was well known, his theological views were not, and the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, sought reassurance from Lang that Fisher was doctrinally sound. The archbishop told Chamberlain that Fisher was "undoubtedly a man of deep personal religion. His piety is that of the best type of English layman... he is very shy and humble about it ". Chamberlain was reassured, and recommended to George VI that Fisher should succeed Winnington-Ingram. The King approved the appointment, but Fisher hesitated when offered it. He saw the great difficulties the turbulent diocese presented, and doubted his ability to unite it. After much private prayer, and reassurance from colleagues, he accepted and was enthroned as Bishop of London in St Paul's Cathedral in November 1939.The Second World War had broken out shortly before Fisher took up his London post, and from September 1940 the city suffered nightly bombing. Twenty-three Wren City churches were bombed by 1941, some beyond repair. Urgent action was needed to deal with devastated parishes. Fisher took the lead in the church assembly and in the House of Lords and the resulting measure was largely his work. Webster writes that Fisher showed courtesy, skill, and determination in "defeating ultra-conservative attitudes which would have prevented any episcopal intervention even in severely blitzed areas".
Fisher, in the words of The Times, went about his duties "with a calm diligence which won general respect" and returned each night to sleep in the cellar at Fulham Palace. The war and the leadership of Temple – who succeeded Lang at Canterbury in 1942 – had begun to improve relations between the various Christian churches – Anglican, Roman Catholic and noncomformist. Though firmly Protestant in his views Fisher strongly supported this and acted as chairman of the joint committee in which the Anglican and Free Church "Religion and Life" movement cooperated with the Roman Catholic "Sword of the Spirit" led by Cardinal Hinsley, in the cause of "moral regeneration and social reform". Fisher was frustrated by the refusal of some Roman Catholics to say even the Lord's Prayer with Protestants. Hinsley's death in 1943 was another blow to inter-church co-operation; his successor was opposed to it. Another only partial success for Fisher was his attempt to regulate the variety of forms of worship in London churches. The diocese had a tradition of High Church ritualism, and clerical dissent from the provisions of the Book of Common Prayer. Fisher sought to pursue the principle of apostolic authority to bring all parishes in the diocese back into conformity, but the matter was not resolved when he ceased to be Bishop of London in 1945.